Home Learning Accountancy Course Question

Truegho

Your recommendation of Ideal Schools sounds interesting, and possibly my best bet. Which course do you suggest I start with? I have loads of admin experience but none in book-keeping, so am starting from scratch, as it were.

Here is the page I am at, but don't know which course to pick:

http://www.idealschools.co.uk/courses

What do YOU think?

trixietoes wrote: »

I am studying (along with my OU) levels 1, 2 & 3 Bookkeeping with Ideal Schools. I signed up for all 3 at the same time, pay by DD and have 2 years to complete it.

They are good, the cheapest and have a good reputation, plus their courses are recognised too.

I know OU do one bookkeeping course (not sure about it, you'd have to read the website) BUT they do offer financial assistance for the course and books to people earning below a certain amount.

Newbiesw

jessicamb wrote: »

AAT is more useful in career development than a Sage course if you want to go on to full accounting qualifications I think. Have a look at job sites and see if any jobs you would go for are demanding the courses - thats one way of telling if the course will do you any good.

Thanks for the advice jessicamb but an Accounting course would be a complete career change starting from scratch, as opposed to Payroll which I already know but don't have the Sage experience.
Thanks also for the Ideal Schools link although no Payroll there, but the fees are so much more cheaper than Home Learning that I could afford to consider a career change and have two courses with Ideal for less than the price of one with Home Learning?
Truegho, in answer to your question 4, my view is that Sage is the way to go. If like me, you have been trawling through the job adverts for Payroll/Accounts, it seems like 95% of employers state "Must have Sage experience" so it has to increase your chances (I do not work for Sage !!!).
Depending on your current knowledge and ability to learn, my view would be to skip Level 1 (saving time & money assuming it is very basic and just common sense), take Level 11 which seems to be a requirement before you can go to Level 111 from which you gain that all important Diploma to wave in front of future employers faces (which is better than no Diploma at all?)

Newbiesw

trixietoes

Truegho wrote: »

Your recommendation of Ideal Schools sounds interesting, and possibly my best bet. Which course do you suggest I start with? I have loads of admin experience but none in book-keeping, so am starting from scratch, as it were.

Here is the page I am at, but don't know which course to pick:

http://www.idealschools.co.uk/courses

What do YOU think?

I knew I wanted to train to be a bookkeeper as the possibilities of working for myself part-time in my view were greater. I knew I didn't want to train to become an accountant (I am studying a degree at the moment at that would just be a bit too much lol)

How I chose between ICB & IAB was based on the frequency the exams are available. From what I gather there isn't a great deal of difference between the two with regards to reputation or job possibilities, one isn't favoured over the other. The ICB hold their exams on a more frequent basis and the 1st one is computerised (I think) so I went with that route. I signed up for 3 levels in MANUAL BOOKKEEPING and paid by DD. This gave me 1st years student membership to ICB also.

I chose manual bookkeeping - as for me this is the 1st step as I know nothing about it so need to start from scratch before moving to any computerised course. Learn the basics 1st as even with a computerised course I still need to know what I'm doing and the reasons for it.

What you must remember though is that once your path of ICB or IAB is chosen you can't move from it, .i.e. they are not inter-changable. They are professional bodies you become a member of. If you want to change you have to do the exams for it.

This bookkeepers forum helped me a lot in finding out what I wanted and how I could it (it has a section dedicated to training)

http://www.book-keepers.org.uk/index.spark?aBID=106474&p=1

good luck xxx

honeypop

trixietoes wrote: »

I chose manual bookkeeping - as for me this is the 1st step as I know nothing about it so need to start from scratch before moving to any computerised course. Learn the basics 1st as even with a computerised course I still need to know what I'm doing and the reasons for it.

This is so true.
Please, if anyone is learning Sage, make sure you know at least the basics of bookkeeping aswell. Knowing how to use the software is useless unless you understand exactly what you are doing on it and more importantly why. When I was looking for someone to cover my role while on maternity leave, I had quite a few people apply that had done a Sage course but understood barely anything of accounts.
Sage courses essentially teach you how to use the software, not how to DO bookkeeping, you need to learn that seperately.

Newbiesw

honeypop wrote: »

Knowing how to use the software is useless unless you understand exactly what you are doing on it and more importantly why. When I was looking for someone to cover my role while on maternity leave, I had quite a few people apply that had done a Sage course but understood barely anything of accounts.
Sage courses essentially teach you how to use the software, not how to DO bookkeeping, you need to learn that seperately.

Hello honeypop,

Yes I totally agree but that was my point of stating I'd skip Level 1 "DEPENDING on your current knowledge and ability to learn."
I've looked at a few courses for Payroll with Sage and a lot of them cover subjects like "What is a tax code?", if it was a bookkeeping course, that question could have been "What is a debit and what is a credit?".
I do not want to spend valuable time and money being taught something that is pretty basic, if you want to be a bookkeeper you should already know some basics, if not, perhaps you should reconsider your career choice?
I have PAYE knowledge, I know what a tax code is, I can calculate your Maternity pay without any Payroll system but if I was asked to enter an employees Tax Code or Maternity pay into Sage I would be stuffed, in my case I need to learn how to use the software !
Given time, I could probably hunt through Sage and work it out for myself but with a 100 applicants for every job (including many Sage experienced), an employer does not have to wait for me to work it out, he does not want to spend time training, he wants some-one to come in and do it NOW, so I need to be able to say "Yes I can do that on Sage".
The other side of the coin Honeypop is that you can take as many AAT courses as you like, you can pass with an armful of diplomas, get qualified up to your eyeballs but when you turn up for your interview for that highly-paid job you've always wanted, your Interviewer is highly impressed, the job is practically yours, then the final question "Are you Sage experienced ?"
To maximise your chances of employment, kill two birds with one stone and take your courses and try to take them with software that most employers seem to be using.
No, I wasn't suggesting all should skip Level 1 in every case, but see what topics it covers, compare that with your own knowledge and only you can make the decision as to whether you really need to take it or not, in some cases it will be a waste of time and money (except for the College!)

Newbiesw

mountainofdebt

As others have said Sage seems to be the software of choice for employers - I used to work with a different package and I couldn't even get a look in. I then decided to do a course with Learning Direct at home and tbh it was awful - the quality of the course and backup was terrible (perhaps it was just that I was used to the quality of the OU?)

Personally I would go along to your local FE college and do a course with a real live tutor - I would have followed this route only courses were done through the day and I was working at the time.

If you have no experience it may help if you act as a treasurer for a voluntary group first - it will enabel you to put some relevant expereince on your CV which would probably enhance your chances of getting a job

Newbiesw

Some interesting points MoD !
So glad you also mentioned Sage being the most popular choice of Employers because I was concerned I was beginning to sound like an undercover Sage Sales rep !
Also your experience with a distance learning college, I'm due to sign for a £four figure course with Home Learning purely for the Sage content and now I really don't know what to do in case this also turns out to be a bad experience resulting in a waste of (a lot) of money and time.
Very mixed reviews on distance learning........Hmmmm - still confused!

Newbiesw

mountainofdebt

Hats off to the marketing dept of Sage - they have really captured the market as far as accounting software is concerned.

When I was trying to get work, I tried telling people that it was like driving a ford and then getting into a fiat - both makes do the same things it would just be a case of the buttons in different areas but they weren't having any of it - hence the course!

I still think a real live tutor would be the better option but I know these courses aren't available for everyone.

(must admit though would really have to think about a 4 figure course - even from the OU!)

shappers82

trixietoes wrote: »

I am studying (along with my OU) levels 1, 2 & 3 Bookkeeping with Ideal Schools. I signed up for all 3 at the same time, pay by DD and have 2 years to complete it.

They are good, the cheapest and have a good reputation, plus their courses are recognised too.

I know OU do one bookkeeping course (not sure about it, you'd have to read the website) BUT they do offer financial assistance for the course and books to people earning below a certain amount.

I have completed the Bookkeeping course with OU (just waiting on results) and it was very good, though difficult at times. The price of the course was very reasonable as well, and you can get a lot of help from other students.
There are 2 new accounting courses due to start later this year that will form a professional certificate in accounting which is AAT recognised.
They do offer financial support depending on circumstances.

MrsE_2

mackem86 wrote: »

3. There isn't actually a Level 1 AAT qualification yet (its in the pipe line) the sage computerised bookkeeping course is something different. The AAT starts off at Level 2 and it'll be called a diploma now - the standards are changing.

4. Having the AAT is no bad thing, and there are always jobs available in finance

I'm a full member & its a great course:)

Its a well regarded qualification in finance